The Nigerian Heart Foundation, NHF, has called on food manufacturing companies including restaurants to add less salt in foods as Nigeria joined the rest of the World to mark Salt Awareness Week for the first time. High intake of salt can lead to high blood pressure, a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
The President of NHF, Dr Kingsley Akinoye who made the call in Lagos noted that it is equally hard to eat less salt when eating in restaurants and ordering takeaways, adding, that if Nigeria is to meet the World Health Organisation, WHO, 5g per day salt target emphasis must be on concerted work and collaboration.
“Population salt reduction is a cost- effective intervention to reduce Heart disease and Stroke. Member states of the World Health Organization have agreed to a salt reduction target of 30 per cent towards the WHO’s recommended amount of 5 g per day. However, Nigeria is still well away from the global maximum salt limit of 5 g per day. This calls for more action,” he said.
The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘Salt: The Forgotten Killer.’
Akinroye who noted that many foods still have lots of hidden salt in them also encouraged individuals to read labels and choose foods with less salt.
“The efforts of the local manufacturing companies should provide a platform for Government and importers to work with multinational companies to contribute to reformulate their products to improve the healthfulness of their products. Similarly, there is a need to ensure that salt consumed in Nigeria meets recommended daily potassium intake.”
“Government can support Industry compliance to see how mandated maximum salt targets can cut across a wide range of processed foods. Also, restaurants and fast food operators could be engaged for a better understanding of the contributions of foods eaten out of home to total salt intake and developing an ongoing strategy to address this factor.
He further called for collaboration among the Federal Government and Ministries of Health to discuss the progress, challenges and way forward in salt reduction strategy to improve the nation’s diet, save lives and healthcare costs.
